Back to the main site

Lake Norman low lake levels!

BigKahuna

BigKahuna

Well-Known Member
Messages
6,557
Reaction score
6,607
Location
North Carolina
Due to a spring drought Lake Norman has been about 5 feet below full pool! We've been doing a lot of traveling but we haven't even had our boat out! You see stumps and crap sticking out all over and just don't feel safe. We've lived here for 11 years now!1781709023840.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • 1781708938974.jpeg
    1781708938974.jpeg
    160.3 KB · Views: 13
Wow - 5’ low! I can appreciate your apprehension on getting out on the boat with the obstacles. Sounds unnerving.
 
I'm going to assume Big Kahuna, that in your avatar, it seems you're either from or in North Carolina, correct? Well, then using my serious power of deduction, (and with the help of Google maps!) that lake Norman is also in North Carolina, correct? Well, we're out here on the Mars landscape of Lake Havasu in western Arizona and our news comes from Phoenix. And from what we've been seeing lately, as in the last few days, is that it appears that the almost the entire eastern seaboard and almost from east Texas to there, that it's been flooding and hurricanes, tornadoes and what not and to me, that means that, if, IF you've gotten any of that bad weather, that your lake Norman should, I SAY should, be rising back up to full pool sometime soon. At least that's my guesstimate. I could be way off here (imagine that!) and maybe your are has not seen any of the bad weather that's been reported to us here.
Scott
 
In Michigan, my launch was delayed 5-6 weeks due to flooding. There are still many boating restrictions and obstacles in the water.
 
FIRE UP said:
I'm going to assume Big Kahuna, that in your avatar, it seems you're either from or in North Carolina, correct? Well, then using my serious power of deduction, (and with the help of Google maps!) that lake Norman is also in North Carolina, correct? Well, we're out here on the Mars landscape of Lake Havasu in western Arizona and our news comes from Phoenix. And from what we've been seeing lately, as in the last few days, is that it appears that the almost the entire eastern seaboard and almost from east Texas to there, that it's been flooding and hurricanes, tornadoes and what not and to me, that means that, if, IF you've gotten any of that bad weather, that your lake Norman should, I SAY should, be rising back up to full pool sometime soon. At least that's my guesstimate. I could be way off here (imagine that!) and maybe your are has not seen any of the bad weather that's been reported to us here.
Scott
Click to expand...
Yup we're in North Carolina right above Charlotte and we've been in a pretty serious drought pretty much all spring! Oh sure it's rained here and there but not enough to make a dent in the water shortage! That bad weather front that you're talking about is pretty much staying to our south! We've had a couple good downpours then it's gone 2 or 3 weeks without any measurable precipitation! If this keeps up we might not take the boat out this year!
 
I feel for you, Big K. We were in the same boat here on Lake Murray until a month ago. Had about two weeks of heavy rain west of us in our watershed and the lake came up over two feet quickly. We're still a little low for this time of year but it is so much better. Hope you get back to normal soon.

Screenshot 2026-06-17 at 9.53.25 PM.png
 
Roger that Sir, thanks for getting back here on that. Glad to hear/see you're ok in all that ugly weather but sad to hear about your lake. Our particular lake, lake Havasu, along with lake Meade and lake Mohave in Las Vegas area and Lake Powel in Utah and AZ region are all fed by the Colorado river and Meade, Powell and Mohave are down considerably due to lack of rain in the whole western region of the US but our lake is by law, not allowed to drop more than a foot or two for farming and agricultural reasons.
Scott
 
Scott - I understand it is less about the "law" vs Water Rights and Contractual Agreements. It is a fascinating series of issues, where downstream agriculture started a 100+ years ago, then, using some rather crazy laws at the time (politics?), were given a high priority water right, which supersedes communities that actually live and have drawn water from the same River for longer (but have lessor rights - see crazy laws). Then the Tribe Lands have top-tier priority rights all up and down the river, with a different set of allocation rights, which they then can sell to some degree. Havasu is used as the reservoir to feed those downstream water rights that actually have a much higher priority all downstream from the big upstream cities. I have spent some time compiling data on this, starting back about 5 plus years ago when I became interested in investing in the area, and then used AI earlier in the year to summarize it into the attached report. Far from perfect, but interesting. I concluded Havasu has some strong rights, but I wonder if they become irrelevant if/when the upstream cities consume the water, and ask for forgiveness later!?
 

Attachments

LaurencetheAdventurer said:
Scott - I understand it is less about the "law" vs Water Rights and Contractual Agreements. It is a fascinating series of issues, where downstream agriculture started a 100+ years ago, then, using some rather crazy laws at the time (politics?), were given a high priority water right, which supersedes communities that actually live and have drawn water from the same River for longer (but have lessor rights - see crazy laws). Then the Tribe Lands have top-tier priority rights all up and down the river, with a different set of allocation rights, which they then can sell to some degree. Havasu is used as the reservoir to feed those downstream water rights that actually have a much higher priority all downstream from the big upstream cities. I have spent some time compiling data on this, starting back about 5 plus years ago when I became interested in investing in the area, and then used AI earlier in the year to summarize it into the attached report. Far from perfect, but interesting. I concluded Havasu has some strong rights, but I wonder if they become irrelevant if/when the upstream cities consume the water, and ask for forgiveness later!?
Click to expand...
Holy total information document there Batman!!!!!!
That is some write-up. I'm by far not the sharpest tool in the shed and don't really understand much of it. But, I do understand this much, if, due to weather and supply, there is only have so much WATER available to at least much of three western states, and even what's available is dwindling at an alarming rate, AND, you continue to overpopulate the majority use areas, i.e. El Centro, Yuma, Havasu, all of the Phoenix proper and surrounding areas, eventually you're going to suck the hydrant DRY! And I'm kind-a just talking about basic use, like just the general population of all those mentioned areas. I'm not even scratching the surface of the *farming communities* involved in this mess. THEN there's the Indians. And I'm probably missing a group or two or three.

Ya know, it's kind-a funny, ironic, sad, upsetting, whatever you want to call it but, as I stated earlier in this thread, there's lots and lots of areas back east right now that are inundated with storms, massive flooding, tornadoes and more, houses are floating away, people and lives are upended, square miles are multi-feet deep in floods, and yet we here in the desert southwest, are bone dry and have been for quite a while. Good ole mother nature just can't seem to realize what kind of life threatening scenario we, here in this area are in. I could go on and on but I've already diverted too much of the OP's original thread and topic. Incredibly sorry about that. Our situations are the same, but different.
Thank you so much for that incredibly detailed writeup/report/synopsis, outstanding work!
Scott
 
Kahuna, hope you got some relief last night. At Lake Keowee, just a bit south and west of Norman, we have had plenty of rain since the dry conditions in the early spring. In fact over the past twelve hours, we got precisely 3 inches more with rain forecast for both Sat and Sun. Hang in there help is on the way (El Nino is kicking in)!
 
PartyBarge said:
Kahuna, hope you got some relief last night. At Lake Keowee, just a bit south and west of Norman, we have had plenty of rain since the dry conditions in the early spring. In fact over the past twelve hours, we got precisely 3 inches more with rain forecast for both Sat and Sun. Hang in there help is on the way (El Nino is kicking in)!
Click to expand...
Thx! Rained a bit last night but not enough!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top